1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to buses and more particularly to termination of buses for use in information processing systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
In computer and information processing systems, various integrated circuit chips communicate digitally with each other over a common bus. The signal frequency at which this communication occurs can limit the performance of the overall system. Thus, the higher the communication frequency, the better. The maximum frequency at which a system communicates is a function not only of the time that it takes for the electromagnetic wavefronts to propagate on the bus from one chip to another, but also of the time required for the signals to settle to levels that can be recognized reliably at the receiving bus nodes as being high or low, referred to as the settling time.
The length of the settling time is a function of the amount of reflection and ringing that occurs on the transmission line. The more effective the termination of a bus system, the smaller the effects of reflection and ringing in the system and the shorter the overall settling time of the signal.